These students from Dover High School took place in the 2019 Teen Roadeo at the Tuscarawas County Fairgrounds. Pictured from left to right are Claire Bauer, Ethan Snyder, Nathan Ravine, Ian Sexton, Will McCrate, Owen Poland. (Tuscarawas County Safe Communities)
 

Dover, Ohio (WJER) - Tuscarawas County Health Department officials are marking a quarter-century of helping students understand how important safe driving really is. 

Safe Communities Coordinator Kelly Snyder says the 25th-annual Teen Roadeo saw nine school districts and dozens of teenage drivers participate in written and real-world skills tests. Snyder says students were judged on maneuverability skills like the star, parallel left and right parking, as well as backing up and lane changing competency. 

“These are the exact same maneuverability skills the Ohio State Highway Patrol go through when they’re going through training, so it’s fun for them,” she says. “They’re judged on their time. They can’t go too fast. They can’t go too slow.  If they hit a cone, if they go out of bounds, all are point deductions.” 

Snyder says after all the challenges, they ended the day with awards for top scores on all the tests, along with guest speakers.

“Cathy Clarke from the coroner's office comes and speaks to them. She comes and talks about safe driving, all different aspects of safe driving, and then Robert Bray talks to them about motorcycle safety,” she says. “We also had [Juvenile Court] Magistrate [Adam] Wilgus talk to them about safe driving and what he’s seeing in the court.”

This year’s third-place winner was Strasburg. Garaway took second, and Dover came in first.  

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